Steve Jobs

Watching the Apple faithful grapple with its imminent acquisition of Beats Electronics has been fascinating.

The only thing Apple watchers seem to agree on is that nobody saw it coming, even though Reuters reported talks about some sort of tie-up over streaming music more than a year ago. It’s the ultimate example of Apple doing something nobody could imagine Steve Jobs doing. Read more

Count Larry Ellison among the Apple bears. The Oracle chief executive, who has described himself as one of Steve Jobs’ closest friends, told CBS News that the iPhone and iPad maker’s prospects are dim without its “brilliant” co-founder. Read more

Steve Jobs was renowned for his willingness to speak the unvarnished truth, regardless of who he offended. He also had an obvious business interest in talking down competitors. But even with those caveats, some of his observations about other companies, from the authorised biography by Walter Isaacson that was published on Monday, make interesting reading. Read more

This week we saw that, while Steve Jobs may be gone, his shadow looms large over Apple and its forthcoming products.

Despite the company missing its third-quarter earnings estimates, Apple posted record sales of the iPhone 4S in the first three days. Meanwhile, the late co-founder’s leaked biography is in the spotlight for revealing intimate details of a very private man. Read more

I am a member of a cult. That cult is Apple. Its prophet was Steve Jobs. I am not a shareholder of the company. But I am – and have been for 31 years – a devotee of its products.

This started in 1980, with purchase of the Apple II for a World Bank research project I had promoted. I did not myself use the machine. But I could see the immense advantages of having such a computer for our own use rather than relying on remote access to a mainframe computer under someone else’s control.

As the deadline for applications for the latest Y Combinator start-up showcase nears, GeekWire reports that survey of 52 venture capital firms raised $1.72bn during the third quarter, a 52 per cent decrease in dollar commitments on the same time last year. The survey, by Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capital Association, says the latest total is the lowest for eight years.

Mobile devices now amount to almost 7% of all US web traffic, Apple Insider says. According to a report by comScore, Apple’s iOS mobile operating system takes up a 58.5% slice of all mobile traffic, with the iPad now accounting for more traffic than iPhones. Read more

The death of Steve Jobs produced a wave of public grief. From accounts of his historical significance to highly personal reminiscences, it was a moment to commemorate a man who did more than anyone to shape the history of personal technology. Read more

One of the strangest research trips I ever went on was to the Kannon Do Zen Center in Mountain View, California. It came at the end of a long day at Apple trying to understand what made the company tick. My office at the time was a stationery closet on the fourth floor of One Infinite Loop, Apple’s corporate headquarters, a makeshift space an iPhone’s throw from the senior executives including Steve Jobs.

It was late 2009 and I had been hired for a few months to do some writing for the then nascent Apple University, an internal programme intended to help rising executives within the company learn the business of Apple. But first I had to try to learn it myself, to find something to grip in a company that to the outside world seems as smooth as the glass facades of its shops.

Steve Jobs was a hero for many around the world, but in China, his status was almost mystical. Like his life, his death has captivated millions of Chinese Apple fans, and prompted some wistful questioning over whether China could ever have its own technology magician.

Already in Beijing, white flowers have appeared on the steps of the Apple store, while its iconic Apple logo will remain unlit until 10am on Friday.

Among the eulogies to Steve Jobs’ undoubted genius was a back-handed compliment from the markets on Thursday morning: smartphone manufacturers’ shares rose in Asia, apparently on doubts about whether the US company would be able to repeat its innovative success without its founder.

Jobs left his chief executive role in August, but his premature death puts the task of dispelling those doubts firmly in the hands of his successors. It could be a mistake to assume that, because they lack Jobs’ charisma, they won’t be capable of carrying forward his legacy.

Steve Jobs stamped his mark on the first 35 years of personal computing history, from the rudimentary but ground-breaking Apple II to the sleek touch-screen iPad. In the process, he helped instil new digital tastes in a generation, while touching off a wave of disruption that has reshaped the consumer electronics, mobile communications and media and entertainment industries.

An unlikely business leader, with an early leaning towards the counter-culture that stayed with him throughout his life, he carved out one of the most remarkable careers of his age, including a corporate comeback that is unrivalled in modern business history. Apple, the company he co-founded – widely thought to be heading for bankruptcy when he returned after a decade’s absence in 1996 – this year briefly overtook ExxonMobil to become the world’s most valuable company.

Tributes to the late Steve Jobs have poured in from around the globe from political leaders, business chiefs and the millions of consumer fans of Apple, the company he built into the world’s second biggest by market capitalisation.

Investors reacted calmly to the news of Jobs’ death at 56 on Wednesday, with Apple shares slipping only slightly on Thursday in New York, giving the company a market value of $350bn.

The death of Steve Jobs, announced tonight by Apple, was expected but still comes as a shock. There are very few business people who are truly irreplaceable but Mr Jobs was undoubtedly so.

Like many other people, I heard the news via his products – in my case through Twitter on an iPod Touch — and am writing this on a MacBook Air. Mr Jobs’ original vision of a world of personal computers came truer than even he imagined.

Apple’s brief announcement on Wednesday evening of the death of Steve Jobs marked the beginning of a flood of tributes from business leaders and politicians, along with mass outpourings on social networks.

As Apple replaced the new iPhone 4S with a picture of its 56-years-old co-founder and chairman on the front page of its website, its board said: “We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today.”

Tim Cook, Apple chief executive, sent a message to staff and the Jobs family issued a statement. These and further reactions from President Obama to Mark Zuckerberg, Google’s co-founders, Twitter’s CEO, and Bill Gates are after the jump. Read more

How important has Steve Jobs’ famous reality distortion field been to Apple’s ability to shape perceptions of its new products – and persuade avid buyers to line up round the block to get their hands on them?

With next week’s unveiling of the iPhone 5, which has just been confirmed, we will get the first chance to see what a big Apple product launch feels like without the company’s guiding spirit. Read more

Michael Arrington, the man behind the influential TechCrunch blog, has started a venture capital fund to invest in start-ups, the New York Times reports. Mr Arrington’s $20m CrunchFund throws up concerns over a conflict of interests, the NYT adds, saying that it is one of journalism’s cardinal rules that reporters should maintain a distance from the people, organisations and issues they cover. Read more

This internal email was sent by Tim Cook to all Apple employees early on Thursday morning, reassuring them that the company “is not going to change”.

Below is the full text of the e-mail:

Team:

I am looking forward to the amazing opportunity of serving as CEO of the most innovative company in the world. Joining Apple was the best decision I’ve ever made and it’s been the privilege of a lifetime to work for Apple and Steve for over 13 years. I share Steve’s optimism for Apple’s bright future.

Today’s tech news from around the web is devoted to reaction and comment on Steve Jobs’ decision to step down as Apple chief executive:

Steve Wozniak, who co-founded Apple along with Steve Jobs, says that Jobs will be remembered as one of the most successful company chiefs, TNW reports.

He’s probably going to be remembered for the next 100 years as the best business leader of our time. He will watch the company for a while, hope its on such a good track. For a company as large as Apple, corporate culture doesn’t change overnight. The quality of the people doesn’t change.

Archive

About the authors

Richard Waters has headed the FT's San Francisco bureau since 2002 and covers Google and Microsoft, among other things. A former New York bureau chief for the FT, he is intrigued by Silicon Valley's unique financial and business culture, and is looking forward to covering his second Tech Bust.

Chris Nuttall has been online and messing around with computers for more than 20 years. He reported from the FT's San Francisco bureau on semiconductors, video games, consumer electronics and all things interwebby from 2004 to 2013, before returning to London.

Tim Bradshaw is the FT's digital media correspondent, and has just moved from London to join our team in San Francisco. He has covered start-ups such as Twitter and Spotify, as well as the online ambitions of more established media companies, such as the BBC iPlayer. He also covers the advertising, marketing and video-game industries. Tim has been writing about technology, business and finance since 2003.

Robert Cookson is the FT's digital media correspondent in London. He
covers digital enterprise in media, from the music industry to local newspapers and social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. A former Hong Kong markets correspondent, he is interested in the interplay
between old media and new technologies.

Hannah Kuchler writes about technology and Silicon Valley from the FT's San Francisco bureau. She covers social media including Facebook and Twitter and the dark and mysterious world of cybersecurity. Hannah has worked for the FT in London, Hong Kong and New York, reporting on everything from British politics to the Chinese internet.

Sarah Mishkin in a correspondent in San Francisco, where she covers payments, e-commerce, and political news on the West Coast. Prior to California, she has worked as an FT reporter in New York, London, Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong, and most recently in Taiwan, where she covered Chinese internet companies, semiconductors, and tech supply chains.